ASMR, Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, describes a tingling sensation in the scalp and the spine, a physiological response provoked by soft sounds, such as whispering, nail tapping, and hair brushing. In recent years, a massive YouTube subculture has grown around ASMR, sharing over two-million videos that recombine the soft, crinkly sounds in an incredible array of scenarios and soundscapes. The intention of these videos is not only to trigger the tingles, but also to ease anxiety, insomnia, and loneliness.

Change-ringing is a communal system of bell-ringing, developed in English church towers in the 17th century. Change-ringing patterns, or methods, cycle through variations of bell sounding order, following complex, braid-like diagrams. Most methods guide the ringers through a series of unique permutations that opens and closes with identical sounding orders, ending always where it began.

The SHUSH Choir Seminar is the confluence of exploratory research in the fields of ASMR and change-ringing. Participants will experiment with both ASMR and change-ringing techniques, resulting in a performance that plays through methods of whispers and ringing. These patterns combine into an infinitely iterative, looping construction, which locks the voices and the bells into a cyclical holding pattern. What will SHUSH them up?

The SHUSH choir delivers a fan fiction related to the world that underlies Tolan’s forthcoming tabletop fantasy/ASMR role-playing game, Die Siedler von SHUSH (dSvS). SHUSH is the central figure of this world, an always-approaching, not-yet-arriving, world-rewiring promise. The performance will comprise a devotional to SHUSH, with each “player” controlling one of the change-ringing handbells.

This two day workshop is hosted by Claire Tolan at the Palais des Beaux Arts Wien and takes place at various resonating contexts in the city of Vienna, culminating in first ever public performance of the SHUSH choir. SHUSH is a co-production with the UNSAFE+SOUNDS festival.